XXXTentacion Prosecutors Plan to Split Up His Case

XXXTentacion’s criminal case has taken another turn. In fact, it’s about to be split in two. In October 2016, the Florida rapper born Jahseh Onfroy was charged with aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, and witness-tampering. In January, the woman testified for two and a half hours during a deposition in the case, according to a 142-page transcript obtained by Pitchfork. Earlier this week, an affidavit (also obtained by Pitchfork) was filed in the woman’s name, stating that she wasn’t willing to testify and wanted the charges “completely dropped.”

Now, the prosecution has told Pitchfork that it questions the authenticity of the affidavit and also plans to break up the case. The witness-tampering charge—which carries the most serious potential penalties under the law—would go to trial first. XXXTentacion has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has repeatedly denied them in interviews and on social media posts.

Onfroy appeared in a Miami courtroom today for his latest hearing, according to a Miami-Dade County state attorney’s office spokesperson. The trial start date, scheduled for December 11 back in October, has been postponed. The next hearing in the case is now set for December 15. In a statement provided through the spokesperson, assistant state attorney Philip Harte said the following:

In court today I advised the Judge and defense that the State has
reasons to doubt the authenticity of the affidavit. Moreover, the
affidavit is not a legally binding document, and has no bearing on
whether the State will or will not proceed.

The case was reset for 12/15 for the State to sever the charges,
creating two separate felony cases (one for the tampering with victim
charge, and one for the original charges).

Once the cases have severed, the State will proceed on the tampering
with victim case first.

Though the witness-tampering charge has so far received less attention than the more graphic allegations against XXXTentacion, it is the most severe charge in the legal sense. The specific witness-tampering charge against XXXTentacion is a first-degree felony. Under Florida law, the only more serious degree of crime, where the prosecution may decide to pursue a life sentence. As for the other charges XXXTentacion faces: aggravated battery of a pregnant victim is a second-degree felony, domestic battery by strangulation is a third-degree felony, and false imprisonment is also a third-degree felony. A lawyer for XXXTentacion didn’t immediately respond to Pitchfork’s request for comment.

The reported victim in the case addressed witness-tampering in her January deposition. According to the transcript obtained by Pitchfork, she said that after Onfroy’s arrest, he threatened her over the phone, indicating that she and a friend were “digging our own graves, basically.”

She also testified that Onfroy’s team asked her to end the case. “They offered me to drop charges, right, but me knowing that you can’t drop charges like that, I was like, “Yeah, you can offer me money,’” she said. “They were like, ‘How much do you want?’ And I was like ‘3k.’” She clarified that Onfroy’s team called her, not the other way around.

“They were like, ‘you need to drop the charges,’” she said in the deposition. “And I was like, ‘I’m not dropping charges, unless you pay me.’ But you know, I was just being smart about it.”